Among Friends (2012)

This movie is pathetic. I THINK its supposed to be a cheap Horror-Comedy type of nonsense film that, assuming that is the case, completely misses on the humor, lacks originality, and lacks effort. The dialogue from the get-go is terrible and cliché beyond words. Characters saying the ol' "what persons of this age/socioeconomic status would say in this situation who are best friends but so terrible to each other!" Again, If the supposed objective is spoofing movies in a campy horror movie style, it doesn't work at all. If the objective is to make the audience laugh on its merits, I can't imagine who's laughing. What was with the limo driver addressing each character exiting the limo? That early scene was Unforgivably unoriginal/unfunny to the point there's no redemption possible for me (I did continue watching however). The acting for the first 30 minutes of the movie is noticeably uninspired as if they did it on one take at the end of the shoot. Oddly it becomes better as the movie progresses, as if only the second half of the movie was actually the movie and the first 30 minutes was written in 30 minutes, filmed in 30 more and never revisited, revised or edited.Last items -The use of the F curse is, again, over-exposed, unoriginal, and ruins a lot of scenes for me. Its overuse doesn't come off as adding comedic value, rather, annoying and unoriginal. -Having one character tripping balls on mushrooms; sooooooo overplayed come on this is he best you could do? *One funny moment is the playing of the privately incognito sex tape. The bad part about this; proving this movie is capable of entertaining the audience if it wants to.If Danielle Harris wasn't attached to this picture you wouldn't be seeing anything above a 3. Keywords; unoriginal, not funny, lack of effort toward script/acting. Why would you want to watch a movie with these attributes. The 4.5 aggregate rating is for Danielle Harris' name.

I haven't read the rest of the reviews but how does this rate 4.5?As one reviewer said, it's The Breakfast Club in the House of 1000 Corpses...and I'd add Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean. Bernadette, a lovely psychotic psychologist, plans a party murder mystery party for her friends...and then drugs them so they can't move. From there, she exposes their lies and hypocrisies. Sure, the fact that she's engaged in deception to know all that she knows and has her own hypocrisies doesn't make sense...that's why she's psychotic. In the course of the night, she shows the hidden videos of the "friends" cheating on each other, raping each other and spying on each other, while keeping their secrets. Throw in some mushrooms and general trippiness and what's not to like? The rock solid script takes you through the various sins with some excellent group dynamics and ensemble acting. Towards the end, Jules (the blond bombshell who's tripping) goes into a full blown hallucination which throws out an even more unsettling vibe with a gasp-inducing consequence. Everyone is spot on in their roles. Bernadette plays her insanity with a subtleness and restraint that could have thrown the movie off the rails. This provides the perfect contrast in the rare moments when she does flip out. Jules, too, shines in her role and brings depth to her party-girl persona. When I first saw her, I thought she was too pretty bring off the role but she fearlessly takes on the drug trip aspect and sells it brilliantly. All in all, it starts up quick and maintains its pace providing an amazing ride!

"Among Friends" is the directorial debut of scream queen Danielle Harris and if that isn't enough to spark your interest take a look at some of the other super talented people involved. Alyssa Lobit penned this little gem and is slowly proving that she's a rock star screen writer headed for the top. Lobit also stars in the film and carries herself well amongst a troop of indie horror veterans. The film also stars horror genre icon Kane Hodder, Christopher Backus, Jennifer Blanc, Dana Daurey, Brianne Davis, Chris Meyer, and of course the great A.J. Bowen. A.J. Bowen is swiftly becoming a horror genre icon himself. I can't believe how many truly awesome films Bowen has starred in over the last five years or so. "Among Friends" is probably best described as "Misery" meets "The Breakfast Club." The film kicks off with what appears to be a tight knit group of friends attending a retro eighties party. The group is taken hostage by an insane and apparently jilted Bernadette that wants to show them the error of their ways. It doesn't take long before the secrets and lies binding the group together begin to tear it apart (literally). I really liked this film for a lot of different reasons but the truth is there's not much here that we haven't seen before. Harris does a very solid job in her first time behind the camera. There are several instances in the film where one of the characters has drug induced delusions. Harris is especially impressive in these moments as she is able to set those scenes apart from the story we're watching and then pull us back at just the right moment. Although the film is decent in all aspects it never really seems to decide where it wants to go or even how far. This is very evident in the films last twenty minutes which make little sense and almost completely stomp out any fire we had burning here. The production value here is unfavorable and I say that having just had a similar retro eighties party for my daughters sweet sixteen. Honestly the party cost us a couple thousand dollars and would have made twice the set produced in this film. I have to nitpick a little bit that's just my nature but let me counter that by saying my two girl's ages 16 and 11 absolutely loved this film, so what do I know. Through it all the film tries hard to stay interesting, bloody, and pure fun. It's not a great film but it's a great start and hopefully we'll get more of Harris behind and in front of the camera. I give this film 6/10 and recommend it to all off-beat horror fans. Let me know what you thought about this group of friends and there dirty little secrets.

I am admittedly a die-hard fan of Danielle Harris, and so I was very hopeful that this film would be enjoyable, but in the end Among Friends completely exceeded even my highest expectations. A lifetime in front of the camera in the ambiance of horror has certainly paid off behind the camera, and it was clear that this film drew inspiration from the classics without sacrificing any originality.From the onset, there is a very throwback feel to Among Friends as we are introduced to the characters through jumpy transitions between quickly paced shots and still images. To circumvent the limitations of a low budget, the film takes on the backdrop of the 1980s via an 80's themed party to avoid the anachronism of the occasional cell phone or modern car. All the while, there is plenty of gore and random humor to string everything together perfectly, and the characters are surprisingly well developed despite the shirt run time.I cannot recommend this movie highly enough; it is original, loaded with cameos, and very rewatchable.